Clinical correlates of antinuclear antibodies in juvenile rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

The presence of antinuclear antibodies (ANA) was determined by an immunofluorescent technique in 200 children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and was compared to that in 80 children with other connective tissue diseases, 164 children with nonconnective tissue diseases, and 90 normal children. The low frequency of positive tests in normal children (3 per cent) and in nonconnective tissue diseases (1 per cent) compared with the high seropositivity in children with systemic lupus erythematosus (100 per cent), polyarteritis (75 per cent), and juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (38.5 per cent) demonstrates that the method used to detect ANA is both sensitive and selective. In juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, ANA were found significantly more frequently in girls, in patients with early onset of disease or whose present age was young, and in those with polyarticular disease or with monarticular disease and iridocyclitis.